(Estimated reading time: 7 minutes)
Love endures with patience and serenity, love is kind and thoughtful, and is not jealous or envious; love does not brag and is not proud or arrogant. It is not rude; it is not self-seeking, it is not provoked [nor overly sensitive and easily angered]; it does not take into account a wrong endured. It does not rejoice at injustice, but rejoices with the truth [when right and truth prevail]. Love bears all things [regardless of what comes], believes all things [looking for the best in each one], hopes all things [remaining steadfast during difficult times], endures all things [without weakening]. 1 Corinthians 13.4-7
This is not intended to give any interpretation of these biblical phrases, but the hope is to share a personal understanding of how much it makes one realize how love works and to see much deeper as we ponder about it. Most of us can agree that t is a good thing to wish that we are able to apply it in our everyday life. Though one can be secular, irreligious, or have agnostic beliefs, it is undeniable that the Judeo-Christian scriptures, or what many call the Bible, are full of wisdom, and many verses are commonsensical or even practical for our daily living.
In the first two verses cited above, it is plainly expressed the characteristics of true love, how it works, and how it does not work. Now there are different kinds of love, especially when it is used in the Scriptures (Bible). First, we can try to give a few examples of how love is portrayed in the Book.
There is, of course, the romantic love, or the erotic love, as can be read in the "book" of Song of Solomon. (We use the term book because the term Bible (Google search, "bible etymology", Definitions from Oxford Languages) comes from the root words biblos/byblos and/or ta biblia/biblion, which can mean "scroll(s)," "book(s)," or "collection(s) of books," and the Bible is a collection of different "books" that serve as its section.)
Another form of love is the sort of what we extend towards our family, the one between the parents and their child/children, or between brothers and sisters in blood. The Ten Commandments, for instance in Exodus 20.12 (Bible Gateway, Amplified Bible), Hebrew Scriptures explicitly command its reader to give honor to and care for one's father and mother.
Another kind of love is what can be read in John 13.35 (Bible Gateway, Amplified Bible) as said by Jesus, that is "love one another." He said it to his apostles, which is also in a form of commandment or instruction, and that they should treat one another with the spirit of friendship and brotherly love as a mark of being his disciples.
Also, in the famous "Sermon on the Mount" Jesus preached that everyone should "love [our] enemies" as expressed in Matthew 5.44-48 (Bible Gateway, Amplified Bible). More on these verses near the end of this text. The parable of the good Samaritan (top painting) is a perfect illustration of how despite deep enmity and obvious differences, it is in our nature to extend love to one another. (See Luke 10.30-37, Bible Gateway, Amplified Bible)
There is also the love of self, as can be implied from Matthew 22.39 (Bible Gateway, Amplified Bible), "Love your neighbor as yourself," for how can we show love to others if we do not know how to care and love ourselves first.
But the greatest depiction of love is the one that can be found in the verses at the beginning of this text because it shows how love works and that no matter how love and affection can be expressed naturally, those verses show that true love is bound by principles. Those words are plainly expressed and easy to comprehend, too, and if only those who profess to be disciples of the book will apply it, the world will be so much different from what it is today.
As we can see at the end of the verses, in 1 Corinthians 13.7, we can say that it perfectly summarizes the words that precede it. "Love bears all things." "To bear" is "to accept, to take responsibility for, to carry." We bear the circumstances of our relationships where love is much needed, no matter how difficult the situations are. Love "believes all things" as we put our trust in those we love and we see past those qualities that we deem are lacking and hold that what weighs more and what truly define(s) the person(s) we love is(are) their good qualities. Love "hopes all things," and we hope that the love we show is adequate, that the person(s) we give our love to will be moved by the love we show them, that the love we show will prevail, and that it is the most important thing in our most troubling times, that when our love is challenged and when we feel that it is difficult to show love, it is the very time that we need to show love more. Lastly, love "endures all things," it will not tire, it will not yield, and no matter how scarce the love we receive, we will still choose the path to love, and we avoid purposefully wounding the ones we love when we feel that they offended us or wronged us somehow.
Going back to the words of Jesus in Matthew 5.48 (Bible Gateway, Amplified Bible), it says that the result of showing love to one's enemies is being "perfect." But what can it mean? In one translation or version of the Bible, the word "complete" (Matthew 5.48 Bible Hub, Weymouth New Testament) is used, and where "maturity" is also implied citing James 1:4 as a cross-reference for the use of the term (Bible Hub). I believe that this means true love grows, it completes what is lacking and inadequate, and it covers the weaknesses we see in others, not that we should tolerate unjust and untoward actions, but to see past those small imperfections and differences that we notice which make it difficult to show love.
We cannot show true love perfectly at all times. We have weaknesses, failures, and even undesirable traits, we see them in each other, and these things are what make it difficult to show love at times. But we can see that those verses are what make love as perfect as it can be. If we notice an undesirable character from another person, what will complete our love is how we endure it, to believe that the other person is more than those undesirable traits, to give them the benefit of the doubt, as we also hope for the best in and for that person, bear the circumstances, and at the same time make things more bearable for them, too, so that that they may choose the path of true love as well. We do not seek reprisal. Instead, we choose to put up with the person we love but somehow wronged us, and thus, we do not hurt them purposefully. As we show our love to them, we may also be able to realize that the difficult traits we observe from others are even unfounded, that we are only judging based on what we perceive from the outside and fail to recognize what things truly are.
Again to ponder on those beautiful words: "Love endures with patience and serenity, love is kind and thoughtful, and is not jealous or envious; love does not brag and is not proud or arrogant. It is not rude; it is not self-seeking, it is not provoked [nor overly sensitive and easily angered]; it does not take into account a wrong endured. It does not rejoice at injustice but rejoices with the truth [when right and truth prevail]. Love bears all things [regardless of what comes], believes all things [looking for the best in each one], hopes all things [remaining steadfast during difficult times], endures all things [without weakening]." In our dealings, with our family, our friends, our life partners, significant others, and even enemies, may we always choose the path of complete and "perfect" love.
IMAGE: "The Good Samaritan" by Balthasar van Cortbemde, from Wikimedia
What is Love? Ponderings on a Biblical Passage by Leandro Angelo Castro is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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